Index-tab strip.



H. G. PORTER.

INDEX TAB STRIP.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 2, I9I9.

Patented Dc.. 30,1919.

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M f I YT I T i V Q Se IIIIII' 'r H DQ IIII' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

HARRY G. PORTER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM F, DEUSS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

INDEX-TAB STRIP.

Application led January 2, 1919.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that ll, HARRY (if. PORTER, citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Chicago, Cook county, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Index-Tab Strips; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to a mounting or carrier for index tabs, and to the method of making the same. Heretofore, index tabs of the kind used on the leaves of ledgers or the like have sometimes been stored and packed for shipment in conipartmental boxes, the tabs being all completely cut and ready for attachment to the sheets, and the tabs bearing each particular letter or other character being sorted into one compartment. lVhen thus put up, it has been diiiicult to keep them from getting mixed in shipment, or to prevent breaking the completeness of the sets by the loss of one or more tabs. It has also been diiiicultto secure a proper matching of the color of the leather or other fabric when securing the tabs in proper arrangement to the leaves of a ledger or the like, as the tint of the leather is apt to vary considerably.

To overcome some of these diiiiculties, it has also been customary to ship and store the tabs either in uncut strips, or in strips cut only part way through between the successive characters, thereby securing uniformity of tint of the fabric; but either compelling the user to employ some tool for completely separating the individual tabs from the strip, or else leaving rough edges and even projecting threads in case the separation was finished by a tearing operation. My invention aims to avoid the objections to both of the above described methods, by providing a simple mounting or carrier for completely manufactured index tabs, so as to hold a series of such tabs together in the form of a strip, while still permitting each individual tab to be speedily detached without the use of any tool and without in any way damaging the tab. More particularly, my invention aims to provide an inexpensive and cheaply made carrier adapted to hold one or more groups of tabs in suitable order and adapted to hold Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 30, 1919.

semina. 269.236.

the individual tabs in such perfect alinevment as not to present projecting portions adapted to catch on adjacent tabs or other objects when the assemblage is handled. Furthermore, my invention aims to provide an exceedingly simple and inexpensive method of manufacturing and attaching such a carrier and of completing the separation of the individual tabs after they are attached to the carrier in the desired order; also, to so mount the individual tabs on the carrier that during the manual detaching, each tab will be grasped in a most convenient position for moistening the gumming on the same and for applying the tab to the sheet to which it is to be attached, thereby saving both the labor and time involved by the repeated handling of tabs as required with. the tabstrips heretofore on the market.

In another aspect, my invention aims to provide means for attaching advertising matter to index-tabs, so as to utilize the adyertising possibilities afforded by distributing such tabs to widely scattered users through dealers in book-binders supplies. `Where index-tabs have been put up according to the old methods, this has not been possible, as the inner surfaces of the tab flaps are both rammed and normally concealed, while the outer surface portions of the tabs are exposed on the sheets to which they are to he attached and therefore should not be marred by atiiXing any extraneous matter. Still further objects will appear from` the following specification and from the accompanying drawings, in which drawings- Figure l is an elevation of a duplex tabstrip embodying my invention and having tabs attached along two of its opposite edges.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section through the tab-strip of Fig. 1 showing the carrier as gummed flatwise to one of the Hap portions of an index tab.

Fig. 3 is a similar section through a onesided tab strip, showing a somewhat heavier carrier sheet gummed at its edge to the edge of the filler in an index tab.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevation of a carrier sheet, indicating two methods of moistening the same for attaching the sheet to index tab-strips according to the method of my invention.

Fig. 5 is a perspective View showing how the article of my invention can conveniently secured to each other and desirably having a stifening filler l interposed between these portions. Before making the tab strip in this uncut form, the inner faces of the flap portions 2which extend from the rear edge i of the filler to the free edges of the strip tions of the carrier sheet.

are -suitably surfaced with glue, so as to .be ready for attaching them tothe opposite sides of a ledger page or the like by merely moistening them. I then take a sheet 3 of paper, cardboard or other suitable material, partially moisten the same, and insert the moistened portion between thel inwardly gummed and relatively unattached Hap portions of the tab-strip, the sheet used being of such width as to project for some distance be ond the free rear edges of the tab strip.

-lVith the sheet in this position, I cut transverse incisions between the individual marked portions of the tab strip, these incisions extending to such ya distance from the fold edge of the tab strip as to extend across the entire width of the tab-strip and through thatportion of the carrier sheet which is interposed between the free flap portions of the tab-strip. This cutting operation is quickly and cheaply performed by means of suitably spaced knives ymounted in a chase, and in practice the power exerted during the cutting will force the flap portions of the tab-strip against the Acarrier sheet with sufiicient pressure to cause the moistened portions of the sheet to adhere to the adjacent ummed or glued-surface parts of the leat er. Consequently, when the parts as thus described are removed from the cuttin portions, they will comprise a series of completely manufactured index-tabs, cut entirely apart, with each tab gummed to a finger formed by the cutting of the incisions through the interposed por- The gumming required for this purpose need only cover a quite small portion of the area of one of the inwardly gummed flaps, hence I have found it ample with the process of manufacture either to moisten the carriersheet along a narrow strip as shown at the left v manufacture as above described will leave the completely cut index-tabs attached to only such a limited extent that they can readily be snapped off or pulled off the carrier sheet by hand. In doing this, a num* ber of tabs can be removed simultaneouslyY if desired. Or, each tab can be grasped separately, approximately as Shown in Fig. 5. When thus grasped, it will be obvious from this part of my drawings, that the tab is held inconvenient position for pressing the gummed inner faces of the flaps against a sponge or other moistening surface and l`-for thereafter aflixing these flaps to a ledger page, card index lsheet or the like. Consequently, each individual tab can be manipulated from its position on the carrier sheet to its service position with a single grasping of the index-tab, thereby saving considerable time and labor over that required with tab-strips as heretofore offered on the market.

At the same time, by attaching the initial and uncut tab-stri to the carrier sheet before making the incision, I insure a uniform texture of the leather or other tab material for the whole series, and also insure an accurate alineinent of the fold edges of the individual tabs, so that the resulting article of manufacture will not present irregular or rough edge portions adapted to catch on other objects. The completely manufactured article therefore presents a handsome appearance, permits of speedy and convenient handling without danger of vdamaging the individual tabs, and yet saves labor over both the partly cut tab-strips heretofore used and also over the compartmental assortments, as the latter arrangement leaves'the individual tabs'in all sorts of positions, so that they have to be turned and straightened and resorted from one compartment tor another. Since the uncut portion of the carriersheet is exposed when m article of manufacture is completed, this portion oEers a suitable medium forv carrying advertising legends, and, if desired, these legends may even extend to the fingers of the sheet as shown in fFig. 5. Thus, every tab carrier can be utilized for conveying advertising information.

However, while I have described my invention as .including tabs having a main folded portion of leather, and gummed atwise to 011e of the iaps or such leather, I do not wish to be limited either to the maconstruction and arrangement here disclosed, it b eing obvious that the same might be varied in many respects without departring from the spirit of my invention. For

example where a relatively thick filler is used in the tabs, the carrier sheet may be gummed edgewise to the rear edge of the 'terials described or to other details of the filler itself as illustrated in Fig. 3. So also, the tabs may be alnxed either to both edges of the carrier (as in Figs. l and 2) or along only one edge, as in Fig. 3.

I claim as my invention:

l. The combination with index tabs each including a piece of sheet material folded upon itself and having the edge portions of the resulting flaps free from each other, of a carrier having lingers each overlapping a iiap of an individual tab, each of the fingers being so secured to the flap overlapped thereby as to be manually detachable from the latter. y

2. In combination with index tabs each including astrip of sheet material doubled upon itself and having the edge portionsv of the resulting flaps free from each other, ofl

a carrier having lingers of the same Width as .the tabs, each linger of the carrier being interposed between the two flaps of a single ab and lightly gummed to one of the said aps.

3. The combination with index tabs, each of which comprises a stiifening liller and a strip of sheet material folded over and secured to the stili'ening filler and presentingl portions extending laterally beyond the fla filllr and free from each other, of a carrier havin separated portions each secured to a latera ly extending liap portion of a single tab, the said carrieralso having a portion projecting beyond the said flaps and coni necting the said separated portions .of the carrier.

4. The method of mounting and completing vthe manufacture of index tabs, which consists in interposing between the iap's of an uncut tab-strip a portion only of the Width of a sheet of material, gluing the interposed sheet portion for a part only of its lnterposed surface to one of the fiaps, andseparating the individual tabs by incisions extending through the entire Width of the tab strip but not extending entirely through lthe said sheet.

'strip which consists in rst aliixing a carrier strip to a group of index-tabs in such a. manner that a portion of the carrier strip will project beyond all of the tabs, and then makin incisions entirely severing the index-tags from each other but leaving each still attached to a part of the carrier.

7. A combined index-tab carrier and advertising medium comprising a series of tabs, and a sheet having lingers secured respectively to individual tabs and having a portion connecting the said fingers 'and bear- 111g an advertising legend.

8. As a new article of manufacture, a carrier strip having a legend-bearing portion and a plurality of relatively separated fingers at one side of the said portion and 1ndeX-tabs respectively and detachably carried by the said fingers.

Signed at Chicago, Illinols, December 30th, 1919. y 'f HARRY G. PORTER. 

